A year ago, LNC had just 18 players on varsity and it showed during a 1-9 campaign. Almost everyone played on both sides of the ball, and if someone was hurt, there wasn’t necessarily anyone to plug in.

“We were in it at halftime, and by the end of the third quarter, you could see we were just dead,” says McKay. “That just makes it tough.”

LNC, which will play the Community School of Davidson junior varsity team in its opener, has had 60 kids at workouts, including varsity and junior varsity, about 15 more than last year at this time.

Sophomore quarterback Michael Dorsainvil and junior Alex Scearce are two of the top returning Knights, and represent the makeup of this year’s team: still young, but also with varsity experience.

LNC will get a different kind of experience this fall playing in a conference for the first time. The Knights joined the Southern Piedmont 1A/2A and will play at East Lincoln and Lincolnton in their first year.

“We’re glad we’re in the conference,” says McKay. “There’s definitely going to be some good competition there, and we know that.”